It's amazing who you can meet on a beach in the Kimberley. The yellow catamaran looked more like an around the world racer than a luxurious cruiser. And the line of sponsor logos confirmed that this was no pleasure cruise. The sailor looked the part: fit with a scruffy beard, if a little older than you might expect a solo adventurer to be.

But that's part of Len Surtees point in his attempted circumnavigation of Australia; age should be no barrier to adventure.

"Three months ago I decided I wanted to sail around Australia, because that's a fair challenge. Here I am in Broome 25 days after leaving the Sunshine Coast in Queensland."

But Len is overcoming more than just being a little long in the tooth. He's been carrying a medical condition for 25 years, ever since he was told he had six weeks before aggressive bowel cancer would take his life.

"I had two beautiful little girls, two years and five years old, and there was no way I was going to leave those girls." he says. "With a very very good surgeon we were able to get rid of the cancer."

The illness left Len with a colostomy needing a plastic bag attached each day to an opening in his abdomen.

"It's part of you, it's part of your life, you accept it and you get on with it."

But getting on with his latest challenge will involve some big risks. Len's journey ahead includes some very dangerous seas for such a small boat when he rounds the southern tip of Tasmania. But he has no doubt that he will make the return home.

"My self preservation is very strong. I do have a life raft. At the end of the day I will get back one way or the other. And I've got things to do. That's just the power of positive thinking."

Listen to Len talking to ABC Kimberley's Ben Collins on an unscheduled stop for repairs in Broome.